Description: 500-700 words

Sources: One passage from Part 1 or Part 2 of Atonement

Assignment:

Select a short passage or moment from either Part 1 or Part 2 of Atonement that is interesting, strange, or revealing. Analyze that passage using text tools to arrive at an insightful interpretation claim of this moment. Conclude your essay with a clear statement about how this issue, topic, or idea engages, complicates, or is complicated by the soulmate narrative.

Begin by introducing the topic in relation to your passage. Briefly contextualize the passage you will be analyzing and make a claim about how the text is constructing your issue.

Then, bring in specific details to support your claim. Draw out these details using your text analysis tools. For each detail, include at least two sentences analyzing that detail—explaining what it shows about your topic and how it connects to your claim. Because this essay is a text analysis and not a summary, you should include only the most important details.

Finally, conclude your essay with one or two sentences that link your interpretation to the soulmate narrative. How might this topic or issue engage, or potentially complicate or be complicated by the soulmate narrative? This interpretation should be based on the analysis that comes before it.

Checklist:

Paper begins by introducing the topic and the moment of focus
Paper has a claims about how the text represents the topic
Paper includes three to five specific details drawn from text-based analysis tools
Paper has at least two sentences of concrete analysis for every detail
Paper concludes by linking its interpretation to the soulmate narrative. Paper explains how their topic either complicates or is complicated by the soulmate narrative.
Criteria for Evaluation:

The paper analyzes specific evidence by connecting it to the topic.

The paper presents a specific and insightful claim about the passage/moment that is supported by analysis.
The paper uses text analysis tools to select noteworthy details from the scene.
The paper links its interpretation to the soulmate narrative.